“Rather than a sense of constriction, the various sized pieces are like precious small gifts, hiding happy mysteries,” writes the art blog “Studio and Garden” about an art installation made for the embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan. One unhappy mystery is why the State Department paid $185,000 of taxpayer dollars for it.
The 9.5 ft x 9.5 ft yarn artwork called "Lares and Penates" is by artist Sheila Hicks, according to a government contract signed in April. It will be displayed in the new Embassy Compound completed last summer. The Embassy cost $699 million to build and used "green construction techniques" including low-flow faucets compliant with the Americans for Disabilities Act.
“The entire building was designed to maximize natural light and minimize the use of electricity throughout the day,” said Ambassador David Hale during the dedication ceremony for the building.
Artsy, a database of contemporary art, noted that
Pioneering fiber artist Sheila Hicks blurs the boundary between painting and sculpture with her vibrant woven and textile works, which she creates in many shapes and sizes, from wall mountings that mimic the format of painting to suspended pieces that hang from ceiling to floor like textured columns.
“Lares and Penates are Roman deities who protected the household," the Studio and Garden blog explained. "We might see these small pieces as votive objects, made with a kind of prayerful attention in the repetitive motions of wrapping.”
Perhaps the embassy compound in Benghazi could have used a piece of art like this. Lares and Penates couldn't have done any worse job of protecting it than Hillary Clinton did.
